Is it too late to challenge my lease?

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We purchased an off-plan property for BTL in 2008 (yes, I know!!!), and the lease we signed before Completion had the Ground Rent as £150 pa. Our solicitor (a supposed leasehold expert recommended by the broker) proceeded to completion, and we thought no more about it until the 5 year anniversary

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New flexibility for landlord annual gas safety checks

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Following campaigning work by the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL) and their England/Wales partners the RLA, the SAL are pleased to announce a good result.

From 6 April 2018 a change in gas safety regulations will introduce a degree of flexibility to the timing of landlords’ annual gas safety checks. 

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Want To Live The High Life? – Check Out This Members Club

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One of my reasons for moving to Malta was to work more closely with my biggest consultancy clients. They specialise in making it easier for you to turn your aspirations into an affordable reality.

You don’t have to own a garage full of supercars to be able to drive the one you want when you want it.

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New law on abandonment of residential property 06/04/18

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Below is a summary of a larger detailed explanation of this complex piece of legislation, due to come into force tomorrow!

I thought it would be of interest to Property118 readers.

“The Housing and Planning Act

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Landlord On Your Feet

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Selco Builders Warehouse are here to give you a helping hand with any Landlord job or project you have in progress or coming soon. 

When you sign up, you become part of the Selco club. Being a member of the Selco club gives you exclusive access to everything we have to offer.

That means you can drop into any of 62 massive branches across the UK, and pick up any number of 1000s of trade products – products that are priced competitively low for professionals like you, so you can complete every important job or project for less.

And so you know for certain you can rely on the products we supply, we have 100s of top trade brands available too, including Leyland paint, DeWalt tools, Kronospan floors and absolutely tons more.

Not to mention deliveries from branch, a top-notch tool, plant & machinery hire service, paint-mixing, sheet material cutting, and brick-matching.

But do you want the convenience of being able to buy trade products whenever you need them? Well, at selcobw.com, not only can you buy online for next day courier delivery, but you can also Click & Collect in-branch within just 30 minutes. Or drop into any of our branches from early in the morning to late at night. Our helpful and knowledgeable team is always ready and available to help you.

Want to take a look at what you can get right now? You can sign up for our trade card online and start buying straight away.

Register now for your free trade card.

P.S We nearly forgot! All of our branches have their very own café serving tasty hot & cold food & drink, so you’ll never go hungry when you buy at Selco Builders Warehouse.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlord On Your Feet | LandlordZONE.

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Charged £90 – Email not a guaranteed system to deliver notice?

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I recently received a £90 charge for late paying service charge for a leasehold property for which I never received the service charge demand/invoice, but the management company claimed they sent it by email (an email in their sent folder).

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Landlord borrowers must conform to new EPC regulations

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Buy-to-Let Mortgages:

Buy to let lenders will increasingly demand to see that landlord borrowers are complying with the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) regulations which come into force from next month.

From April 2018, a new legal standard for minimum energy efficiency will apply to all rented residential and commercial buildings. The new legal standard brings both threats and opportunities for landlords, investors, developers and lenders.

From 1 April 2018, landlords of buildings that come within the scope of the MEES Regulations (there are a limited number of exemptions) must not market them for sale, renew existing tenancies or grant new tenancies if the building has less than the minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of E, unless the landlord can register a valid exemption. This will extend to all existing tenancies by 1 April 2020.

To establish whether a building and tenancy come within the scope of MEES is not always easy. Generally it can be said that MEES does not apply to:

• buildings not required to have an EPC, for example industrial sites, workshops, non-residential agricultural buildings with a low energy demand, certain listed buildings, temporary properties and holidays lets
• buildings where the EPC is over 10 years old or where there is no EPC
• tenancies of less than 6 months (with no right of renewal)
• tenancies of over 99 years.

To determine whether a building and tenancy come within the scope means consulting two sets of regulations: Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) 2012 and the MEES Regulations.

Having said that, most buy-to-let tenancies will come within the scope, but the government’s Guidance for Landlords here provides explanations of how MEES will apply in particular circumstances for residential and commercial lets, such as leases parts of buildings.

Enforcement

The MEES Regulations will be enforced by Local Authority Weights and Measures (LWMAs) with powers to impose civil penalties set by reference to a property’s rateable value. The penalty for renting out a property for a period of fewer than three months in breach of the MEES Regulations will be equivalent to 10% of the property’s rateable value, subject to a minimum penalty of £5,000 and a maximum of £50,000. After three months, the penalty rises to 20% of the rateable value, with a minimum penalty of £10,000 and a maximum of £150,000.

Following recent changes to the regulations to be followed by mortgage lenders, they are concerned that they are lending to landlords operating viable portfolios. If a rental property is likely to be unviable due to its not complying with minimum energy efficiency standards, then this creates a problem for the landlord when going through the mortgage application process, either for a new mortgage or a renewal / replacement.

OneSavings Bank, through its Kent Reliance and InterBay brands, specialising in buy-to-let mortgages, is one of the first to make changes to its lending conditions to ensure its residential and commercial borrowers conform to the new MEES regulations.

In some circumstances a grace period will be allowed, included in the formal mortgage offer, to ensure that the property receives an ‘E’ rating or better within three months of completion.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlord borrowers must conform to new EPC regulations | LandlordZONE.

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